that the word of the prophet Esaias which he said might be fulfilled, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
The nation had seen sign after sign from Jesus, and still would not believe. John explains that with words Isaiah wrote centuries earlier, and they raise the hardest question of all: why does evidence not produce faith?
(Older translations read "who has believed our report." The quotes below follow that wording.)
Isaiah asks two questions. Each one names a gift the people had received and thrown back.
First, according to the prophet Isaiah, they had rejected both the "report" of the Lord, and the "arm of the Lord". In the wonderful words of the Lord they had heard the report; in the many signs they had seen the arm of the Lord. They refused outright to accept the report as coming from God, saying that the Lord's words came from the devil (John 8:49, 52). They rejected the arm of the Lord by crediting His works to the power of the devil (John 10:20-21).
"The arm of the Lord" is not a figure of speech about strength in general. It is a name, and the shock of the verse lies in where that name landed.
"The arm of the Lord" is a divine title. In chapter 51 of the prophecy, Isaiah calls on the arm of the Lord to wake up and deliver the people as in the ancient days… At the Red Sea the arm of the Lord showed such glorious power that even the doubters in Israel's army must have been convinced. But now, where do we see the arm of the Lord? Not in the thunder, the lightning, the earthquake or the fire. Not in the mighty wind that divided the sea, but in a Babe in the manger at Bethlehem.
Isaiah does not ask whether God reveals His arm. He asks to whom. The answer sets a condition, and it shuts nobody out.
The arm of the Lord is revealed to souls where there is repentance and faith in the report which God sends. Isa. 53:1; Rom. 10:16. Even the distant islands of the nations are to trust in it — that is, sinners everywhere in creation. Isa. 51:5.
Isaiah's question expects an answer, and that answer is not "nobody."
By the Spirit, the prophet foresaw that the nation would refuse the Lord's testimony, and that only a remnant would accept it. Christ is "The Arm of the Lord." He had the divine power that did the great signs: opening the eyes of the man born blind, and raising Lazarus from death and decay. Yet no one knew Him except those whose eyes God in grace had opened.
Isaiah wrote this unbelief down in advance. That did not cause it, and it does not excuse it. God had left them nothing to plead.
This was the result of the only perfect testimony ever given in this world: the words, and ways, and signs of the Son of God. And it did not happen where people could plead complete ignorance as an excuse. It happened where God had done all He could to prepare the way by prophecy, and to wake up attention by sign, grace, and truth, among a people used to seeing God step in. But man's unbelief, left to itself and Satan, can shut out every sight and sound from God.
John says first that they would not believe. Only later does he say they could not. That order matters.
It also helps to note that Scripture always keeps this order. God does not show His sovereignty until man's will sets itself against His. It is when man will not that he cannot.
More signs would not have helped them. The problem was never the evidence.
They refused that testimony. Only then do we read, "Therefore they could not believe." All this proves that the natural man — even the religious man — has no power in himself to receive the things of God, or to know anything about them. The Jews set themselves up as judges and said to Jesus, in effect, "Show us a sign so that we may believe You." But when the sign came, they were as far from believing as ever. It shows that what we need is not miracles outside, but the work of the Holy Spirit inside, before we can receive God's testimony.
- Report. Isaiah's first question names what they heard — the Lord's words. They refused them, and said the devil was behind them.
- Arm. Isaiah's second question names what they saw — His works of power. The same power that once divided the sea now stood among them in lowliness, and they refused that too.
- Revealed. God reveals His arm where there is repentance and faith in the message He sends — and that welcome reaches sinners everywhere.
- Remnant. The prophet foresaw both the refusal and the few — those whose eyes God in grace had opened.
- Order. They would not believe first; only then came the word that they could not. What no sign can do outside a person, the Spirit does inside.
On this account they could not believe, because Esaias said again,
They had seen the signs and heard the words. Still they would not believe. So John explains their unbelief with a second quotation from Isaiah. The verse raises a hard question: if they could not believe, were they still to blame?
The unbelief John records was no surprise to God. The prophet had already described it.
The nation still would not believe, though Christ had done so many miracles. Should that unbelief surprise us? It might, if we think only of the Lord's ministry. But not, if we remember the prophetic words of Isaiah 53:1. And John, guided by the Spirit, here takes us back to them. The nation's rejection of Christ was foreseen, and also foretold. Then blindness fell on them as a judgment, just as another word from the same prophet had said (Isaiah 6:9-10).
The order matters. Their inability came second. A refusal came first.
God shows His sovereignty only when man's will sets itself against His. It is when man will not that he cannot. This Gospel shows it clearly enough… It is plain that they would not believe (John 5:40), though they had ample proof. Then the passage goes on: "Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart"… So we see they could not believe because they would not.
God's answer was to hand them over to the very thing they had chosen.
God hardened them in judgment… They had steeled their hearts against His words and closed their eyes to His works of power. So God gave them up to the blindness and hardness that they themselves had chosen.
Commentators refuse both easy answers. The blinding is God's own act. Yet it falls only on a heart that has already hardened itself.
God never gives poor man up to Satan like this, however wretched and sinful he is, until that man rejects His love and holiness and truth. These are shown above all in the Lord Jesus and in this Gospel. Then He may harden him in judgment, and He does, and the ruin is beyond recovery. But this comes only after the heart has steeled itself against the appeals of His most patient goodness. Still, hardening in judgment is a real thing on God's part. Some argue against it, because they are unwilling to admit openly that God is at work on one side and Satan on the other. The opposite school is no better. It seems to banish from the conscience the solemn fact of responsibility.
The timing of the sentence shows how long God waited.
The second quotation, though it comes earlier in Isaiah, points to the solemn fact of blindness sent in judgment. God never pronounces that sentence, still less carries it out, until His patience has had its perfect work and man has filled up the measure of his guilt beyond measure. Under such a sentence of hardening they could not believe, no doubt. But the sentence came because their wickedness was complete. They wilfully rejected God and His will and did not believe, despite the fullest appeals to their hearts and consciences.
This verse comes just after Jesus hid Himself. One writer shows where that left them.
"Jesus said these things, and departed and hid Himself from them." They were now to lose their privileges… Now the light was hidden from their eyes. One thing remained for them to do: to put out that light in the blood of His cross, as far as human power could do it. What a terrible creature man is!
The blinding fell on the nation as a whole, and even then mercy kept working.
But this hardening was only national, and it was not apart from mercy. The passage adds at once: "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him."
One writer turns the warning on the reader.
Are you proud, and do you reject the truth of God's election of grace? Then beware as you read this. He may give you up too, to blindness and hardness of heart. How long has God held out His hands ready to receive you? And are you still a rejecter, like self-righteous Israel? God may, in righteous judgment, give you up to hardness of heart, and to the darkness that is closing in.
- Refused — The light shone in signs and words; they would not have it. That refusal came first, before any hardening from God.
- Sentenced — Because they would not, they could not. God gave them the blindness they had already chosen for themselves.
- Delayed — The sentence is real, and it is God's own. But He never passed it until His patience had done its full work and their guilt was complete.
- Hidden — The light was hidden from them. One act was left: the cross. They had despised their privileges, and they lost them.
- Spared — The hardening was national, not without mercy: some still believed. God still holds out His hands, so the warning stands for you too.
He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.
Near the end of His public ministry, John explains why crowds who had watched sign after sign still turned away. He quotes Isaiah, and the answer is hard: God Himself blinds and hardens — so where does human responsibility fit?
The verse follows a statement that the people could not believe. Commentators tie that inability to a choice already made.
John, however, looks at their conduct at a stage after their wilfulness. They hardened their own hearts, and then their hearts were hardened as a penalty. They would not believe, therefore they could not believe. John's words are emphatic that a judicial punishment from God had fallen on the people.
One writer traces the same order right through Scripture.
It is not until man's will actively opposes God's that He shows His sovereignty. It is when man will not that he cannot.
Nothing here is hasty. God's sentence comes last, not first.
The first citation proves the guilt of rejecting God's testimony. The second, though really earlier, points to the solemn fact of judicial blindness. God never pronounces it, still less carries it out, until His patience has had its perfect work. He waits until man has filled up the measure of his guilt beyond measure. Under such a sentence of hardening they could not believe, no doubt. But the sentence came because of wickedness completed in wilful rejection of God and His will. They did not believe, despite the fullest appeals to their hearts and consciences.
Commentators point to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt in the book of Exodus, as an earlier case of God hardening a man. They note which came first.
More solemn still is the word that "they could not believe," because God had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. But we must not suppose that God did this without reason. Pharaoh first hardened his own heart against God, and only after that do we read of God hardening his heart (Ex. 5:1-2; Ex. 7:3). In the same way, the Jews hardened themselves against the Lord Jesus, and then God confirmed their blindness by judicially blinding them. Let men dare to go too far in opposition to God, and this may be the awful result.
The blinding was not total. One writer limits it to what the Son was bringing in, and traces it to what they had already refused.
But we must remember this. He has blinded them judicially in relation to the things of Christianity, not to the things He promised them in the prophets… It was after they had refused Christ as their Messiah that God closed their eyes to the greater things the Son was bringing to pass… They closed their own eyes to what their prophetic word had clearly set out. So God judicially closed their eyes to what was not obvious, and what came to light in the ministry of our Lord.
John quotes the prophecy only in part. The gap is deliberate.
Notice that the Fourth Gospel quotes only part of the original prophecy, and leaves out the clause about their hearing. The context shows that the Gospel writer is speaking of the signs of Jesus, not of His teaching (v. 37). His miracles were for the eyes of the people, while His teaching was for their ears. So John brings forward only the clauses about their eyes and heart, which God had blinded and hardened because of their stubborn opposition.
Isaiah's prophecy and John's Gospel do not name the same speaker. Commentators say there is no clash.
It is Jehovah in the prophecy, Christ in the Gospel; but they are one — as, indeed, Acts 28:25-27 lets us include the Holy Spirit.
The verse ends with the healing they never reached. The offer behind it was real.
The Lord was the Great Physician come to heal them. And He had given repeated proofs of His power and readiness to do it. But they "would not," and so their blind eyes were made more blind.
Even at the time some did believe, and the hardening had a limit.
However, this hardening was only national, and it was not apart from mercy. It is added at once: "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him."
And it is not the last word on the nation.
However, Israel's blindness is not permanent.
- Refusal first. They would not believe; only afterwards could they not. The hardening is a penalty on a choice, never the cause of it.
- Patience first. God held back the sentence until His patience had run its full course and man had filled up his guilt beyond measure.
- Precedent first. Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it. Go too far against God, and this may be the result.
- Sight first. The signs were for their eyes, so John quotes only the clauses about eyes and heart, leaving out the ears.
- Healing last. The Great Physician came ready to heal them. They would not. Yet the blindness is national, not permanent.
These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
John has just recorded a long list of unbelief. Now he tells us who Israel was rejecting: the glory Isaiah saw, long before, was the glory of Jesus.
One writer notes that the wording reads either way — "because" or "when" he saw His glory. He then traces what the sight did to the prophet.
"Isaiah said these things because (or when) he saw His glory and spoke of Him." When the prophet saw the King, the Lord of hosts, he saw the glory of the Son of God. This was the Word who would in time become flesh and live here below, full of grace and truth. The light had its effect. The prophet owns that he is a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. But fire from the altar touches him and cleanses him. Then he goes out with the message of blindness in judgment to the people who did not see His glory when it stood before their eyes in divine love.
Isaiah's own words were that his eyes had seen the King, the Lord of hosts. John says those eyes saw Jesus.
Isaiah 6 is another proof. Isaiah was in the presence of the thrice holy God… And John says of that very passage that Isaiah "saw His glory and spoke of Him" (12:41). John is referring to the Lord Jesus, the wonderful glory of the Son of God, coequal with God… Isaiah saw the glory of Jehovah, and John tells us this was the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again we have no hesitation in saying that the Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old.
Scripture credits the words Isaiah heard to more than one speaker.
Isaiah 6 records the words of verse 40 in our chapter as "the voice of the Lord." In Acts 28 Paul quotes the same words as what the Holy Spirit said. This casts a helpful light on the unity of the Divine Persons. We may not divide, though we may distinguish.
Verse 41 comes right after the hardest words in the chapter: they could not believe. But the order matters. The blindness came after the refusal, not before it.
God never pronounces this blindness, and never carries it out, until His patience has had its perfect work and man has filled up the measure of his guilt. Under such a sentence of hardening they could not believe. But the sentence came because of wickedness brought to its full in the deliberate rejection of God and His will. They did not believe, despite the fullest appeals to their hearts and consciences… It is Jehovah in the prophecy, Christ in the Gospel; but they are one… And the darkness increased as the light shone out.
Why mention the vision at all in a passage about failure? Because it changes what we are left looking at.
John 12 sets a dark picture before us. But the Holy Spirit does not only show us Isaiah 6 fulfilled in the unbelief of the people. In His grace He also adds a word or two for our comfort, reminding us of the glory of the One they rejected… Here we have a man in the secret of God. And a man in the secret of God always speaks of the glory of Jesus.
Isaiah did not walk away from that vision congratulating himself. The light showed him what he was.
Christ is the perfect standard, and He measures every one of us. It does not matter what I may think of myself, or what others may think about me. The question is this: what am I in the presence of Christ?… Only when the bright light of Christ's moral glory pours around me can I form a right estimate of what I am.
And what Isaiah saw in vision is what we now need by faith — the same Person, hidden under an ordinary life in Galilee.
Isaiah "saw His glory, and spoke of Him"… And we need that same sight, by faith. We need the faith of the Son, the faith of Jesus, the faith of His name, the grasp of His person. We need the sense of the glory that lay behind a veil thicker than a seraph's wing — the covering of the lowly, earth-rejected Galilean.
- Seen — Isaiah's vision was a sight of the Son of God, long before He became flesh and lived among us.
- Named — Because the glory Isaiah saw was the Lord's glory, the Jesus of the New Testament is the Lord of the Old.
- Shared — Scripture credits Isaiah 6 to the Lord, to Christ and to the Spirit. Distinguish the Persons; never divide them.
- Refused — Blindness fell on Israel only after they refused the light. The darkness deepened as the light shone brighter.
- Sought — The glory that humbled Isaiah and then cleansed him still measures us. Faith is how we see it now.